Yankees retire Hall of Famer CC Sabathia's No. 52 and honor him with plaque in Monument Park

NEW YORK (AP) — CC Sabathia saw many ceremonies honoring former players during 11 seasons with the New York Yankees and never envisioned he would be an honoree.

Sabathia became the 24th player or manager to get his number retired and the Hall of Fame left-hander was honored with a plaque in Monument Park during a ceremony before a doubleheader opener against Baltimore on Friday.

Sabathia joined Derek Jeter, Mariano Rivera, Andy Pettitte and Jorge Posada as the fifth member of 2009 World Series champion Yankees with a retired number and plaque.

“I never envisioned myself going into Monument Park and I think that was the reason why I was so scared to come here is because you don’t ever think you’re going to win the Yankee fans over or the city over,” Sabathia said. “So to be able to be sitting here now, playing here 11 years is an incredible feeling and that’s why I’ve said the last couple of weeks, this feels bigger to me than the Hall of Fame because I know what was at stake when I came here.”

Now 46, Sabathia signed a $161 million, seven-year contract before the 2009 season after being convinced by general manager Brian Cashman following an initial meeting in December 2008. The contract was the largest at the time for a free-agent pitcher.

Sabathia went 19-8 with a 3.37 ERA in 34 starts for the Yankees in his first season. He earned the AL Championship Series MVP Award, going 2-0 with a 1.13 ERA in a six-game win over the Los Angeles Angels and started Games 1 and 4 as the Yankees beat Philadelphia for their 27th title.

Sabathia went 251-161 with a 3.74 ERA and 3,093 strikeouts, third among left-handers behind Randy Johnson and Steve Carlton, during 19 seasons with Cleveland (2001-08), Milwaukee (2008) and the Yankees (2009-19).

During 11 seasons in New York, Sabathia was 134-88 with a 3.81 ERA and 1,700 strikeouts. He ranks fourth in franchise history in strikeouts, seventh in starts, 10th in wins and 11th in innings.

Sabathia was a first-ballot Hall of Famer in 2025, receiving 86.8% of the vote. He was inducted with Billy Wagner and Ichiro Suzuki, a former Yankee teammate from 2012-14.

“That ceremony was incredible, surreal,” Sabathia said. “I was saying out there I have so many famous teammates whether it’s Mo, Derek, Andy. So I’ve been at the ceremony a bunch of times but to have that ceremony be for me is special and to have my family out there was cool.”

The Yankees' ceremony began with video messages from Jeter, Paul O’Neill, Jorge Posada and Bernie Williams, and Sabathia unveiled the plaque with his wife Amber, two of his children, two friends and his mother, Margie.

After video highlights, Sabathia waved to fans from a golf cart along the warning track. He was presented with a blue blazer, a framed version of his plaque and retired number along with a ring commemorating his career from general manager Brian Cashman — who was booed by fans.

After the ceremony, Sabathia threw out the ceremonial first pitch to his son Carsten, a Milwaukee minor league first baseman .

See AP’s full MLB coverage here

Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, right, waves as his wife Amber looks on during his Monument Park induction ceremony before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Hall of Famer CC Sabathia hugs his wife Amber, after unveiling his number during his Monument Park induction ceremony before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Hall of Famer CC Sabathia unveils his No. 52 during his Monument Park induction ceremony before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Hall of Famer CC Sabathia throws out the ceremonial first pitch before in the first baseball game of a doubleheader between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

Chris Young, Dellin Betances, Derek Jeter, CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte pose during Sabathia's Monument Park induction ceremony before a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles, Friday, Sept. 25, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Noah K. Murray)

NEW YORK (AP) — A cooldown in oil prices on Friday helped release some of the pressure that’s built up on Wall Street, and U.S. stocks closed out their first winning week in the last three.

The S&P 500 added 0.5% to break a three-day losing streak marked by big swings due to rising yields in the bond market. Despite the week’s uneasiness, the main measure of the U.S. stock market’s health pulled back within 0.7% of its all-time high set last month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 478 points, or 0.9%, and the Nasdaq composite climbed 0.5%.

Stocks got a boost after the price for a barrel of Brent oil dropped 2.8% to $97.44 per barrel. It’s been yo-yoing on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow oil to flow freely again from the Middle East. Prices go down when hopes rise for a possible deal to fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz to oil tankers, and they go up when doubts resurface.

But trading was shaky again on Wall Street Friday, particularly after a report on U.S. consumer sentiment sent Treasury yields higher in the morning.

The report from the University of Michigan said U.S. consumers are bracing for inflation of 4.6% in the coming year, up from their forecast of 4% the month before. It also said that overall sentiment among consumers was not as bad as economists expected, even if it was the lowest in four months.

The rising expectations for high inflation are potentially dangerous for the economy because they could encourage behavior that leads to a vicious cycle that makes the cost of living spiral even higher.

Some consumers told the survey that buying some kinds of products now would help them avoid higher prices in the future. If many rush to make such purchases at the same time, it could encourage sellers to raise prices further.

Following the report on consumer sentiment, the yield on the 10-year Treasury briefly jumped to 5.22%, up from 5.18% late Thursday, and was near its highest level since 2007.

High yields slow the economy by making it more expensive for everyone to borrow money, while undercutting prices for stocks and other investments. The 10-year yield has been jumping since the start of the war with Iran, when it was at 3.97%.

Higher yields worldwide are rattling all kinds of financial markets. They’re on the rise because of worries about inflation, expensive oil, big government debt loads, signs of continued economic strength and other factors.

But yields eased later in trading on Friday as the price of oil pulled lower, and the 10-year yield fell back to 5.15%. That helped stocks on Wall Street regain strength.

Helping to drive the market higher was Akamai Technologies. The cloud company’s stock rose 3.2% after it announced an $11.6 billion, multiyear agreement with Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI chatbot.

Costco Wholesale climbed 2.9% after the retailer reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Such strong profit reports from U.S. companies have helped the stock market remain resilient despite all the worries about high inflation and oil prices.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 39.28 points to 7,743.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 478.64 to 51,828.62, and the Nasdaq composite gained 129.34 to 27,068.72.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe following bigger moves in Asia. Japan’s Nikkei 225 climbed 1.3%, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 1%.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-him and Michelle Chapman contributed to this report.

Michael Pistillo works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

John O'Hara works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)